Chapter 21 #2
At picnic tables, they ate on plates of all shapes and sizes, with a mix of plastic cutlery and silverware and every kind of cup that had ever graced the shelves of a Target or DG. Allie sighed over the grilled potatoes, grilled zucchini, and sliced tomatoes. There was even salt.
Cam swallowed a bite of tomato and groaned. “I’ve missed this. We usually get this kind of food at the Plant. How long’s it been since you had fresh veggies?”
“Definitely more than a year,” Allie said, trying not to shovel everything into her mouth all at once.
Key and Odette came a few minutes later to sit with them, then Gray and Ripper appeared.
As the sky darkened, someone began playing a guitar, the kids were put to bed inside, and Gray broke out some “special” cannabis tincture while the aforementioned adult lemonade was brought out, made with vodka.
Although she didn’t drink any, Ripper and Key did. Cam had one glass but no more, to Allie’s intense relief.
As the evening wore on, most people went inside to bed or camped out in quiet places inside the fence while a few snipers kept watch for Zs from the roof, aided by flashlights and the light from the full moon.
Allie sat between Jimmy and Cam around one of the campfires inside the fence, and the circle was completed by a still slightly broody Key, a mellow Gray and Odette, and a Ripper more relaxed than she’d ever seen him.
Allie enjoyed being back in the quiet again—much as she used to love the crowds at Cubs games or even busy Saturdays at the library, there had been too many people around for her comfort before.
“Where’s Jessie?” Allie asked.
“She went in to have a lie-down earlier,” Ripper said. “She might come out later.”
Key was frowning into the flames. “Jimmy, why did you let him go?” she asked abruptly. “The boy knew I wanted to talk to him before he left.”
Odette took her hand. “And that’s why Odie left, mi amor, which you know damn well. Jimmy, none of this is your fault. Key, apologize, and then can we please relax?”
Key sighed then looked over at Jimmy. “Fine. I’m sorry.”
“No apologies needed, really.” With the finesse of a born people person, Jimmy immediately broke out some corny jokes that had even Key chuckling.
During a lull, when Allie’s eyes were starting to droop, Ripper spoke up. “You know what I thought about the other day, when I hadn’t remembered it in forever? The Dream.”
A new silence fell over the group while they all seemed caught in the memory. Allie looked around—per Morrigan’s suggestion, she’d been meaning to bring it up with them, but she’d been too preoccupied since they got to the Armory.
Now, thanks to Ripper, the rest of the people at their fire were all reliving it in their heads. She didn’t have to be a mind reader to know it.
“It was the weirdest thing,” Odette mused. “The next morning, I tried to tell Key about it when we woke up, but she was finishing my sentences. Same shark, same fish.”
“I hadn’t thought of it since it happened,” Ripper said.
“But the night we found Allie, it popped into my head again. It was as big as a skyscraper, that shark.” His voice was intense but full of wonder.
“And I could only tell what it was because of the shape. The feel of it moving through the water. There were so many of those other fish that I don’t think I could actually see the shark. ”
Cam’s hand found Allie’s.
“They were pilot fish,” she said.
“Right,” Ripper said. “I felt like I should feel sorry for the shark, all covered by those fish, but then I realized the shark was so calm and so dark that all I could feel was dread. Then the vortex opened up, and...” He mimed swirling with his hands.
Jimmy shifted in his seat and leaned forward.
“I’m not sure where the rest of you lived Before other than the San Fran folks, but I lived in up in Brainerd.
We had this craptastic local morning show—Bright and Early with Angie and Paul.
They had a weatherman who had a goofball shtick.
Weatherman Dan.” He rolled his eyes and made a face.
“Anchor Angie, Anchor Paul, and Weatherman Dan. That’s how they always introduced themselves too.
Terrible stuff. But I watched it most every morning while my wife and I ate breakfast before work. ”
He paused, shook his head.
“I hadn’t said anything to Kim about the Dream.
We didn’t talk a lot in the mornings—she hated it when I was too chatty before she’d had a full cup of coffee.
But she was at the stove, and I was setting the table.
Next thing I know, the show’s going with their morning banter.
Anchor Paul jokes that Anchor Angie isn’t in the best mood, and she says she didn’t sleep well because she had this weird dream. ”
Jimmy chuckled. “Anchor Paul just smiles, but before he can move on, Weatherman Dan says, ‘Hey, as long as it wasn’t about a giant shark covered with fish,’ like it’s this funny joke. But Anchor Angie goes full tharn, all wide-eyed and kind of pale.”
“The fuck is ‘tharn’?” Ripper asked.
“From the rabbits in Watership Down.” Gray was sitting up straight, his mouth grim. “Means to get so scared you can’t move or think properly.”
“A learned man.” Jimmy nodded at Gray. “Anyway, Anchor Angie looks like she’s seen a ghost, and right then, I hear a wet smack.
Kim’s dropped an egg on the floor, busting it all to hell.
Her face had to have been an exact copy of mine at the time, I think—total gobsmacked fear.
We all went tharn, me and Kim and poor Anchor Angie. ”
Jimmy shook his head. “When Anchor Angie—sorry, I know it’s annoying, but that’s how I remember her—came back from the commercial break, she said they’d been getting calls about the Dream. It was all anyone could talk about that whole day. Who’d had the Dream, who hadn’t.”
“And wondering what the fuck it meant,” Key said, her voice quiet. “We still don’t know.”
Everyone around the campfire nodded. Allie was nearly bursting with the need to tell them about her theories, but before she could say anything, a woman holding a crying baby ran out of the main building, yelling, “Z attack!”
In a flash, everyone was up and on full alert. Calls of “Where?” “Check the fences!” echoed around them.
“They’re inside!” the woman screamed.
Allie locked eyes with Key for a split second before Key nodded at her.
“Jimmy, Cam, Ripper—grab weapons and go in. Watch everyone, all ages, and send ’em out if they’re alive.
Dette, Allie, you catch folks when they come out.
Check ’em before you let them go into the crowd.
” Key ran to another group and sent them to the back of the building.
Cam gave Allie a fierce, quick kiss. “Stay safe.”
Morrigan broke into her thoughts like a sledgehammer. Have him stay with you.
I can’t. “You too.”
She watched him disappear inside, behind Key.
Go away from the building until it is under control.
“I can’t leave them,” she whispered. “Not when I can help.”
A group of children came running out, some holding younger siblings by the hand, and Dette recruited some of the older kids to help with the checking. She showed them what to look for on the arms, legs, and torso, explaining that it wasn’t complete, but it was the best they could do in the moment.
The first two people checked out as unbitten. Then a teenager came out with a torn, bloody sleeve and an open mouth. It lunged for Allie, eyes glowing red in the dark. Allie froze. No.
Dette stepped behind the Z and buried her knife in the back of its head. “Got you,” she told Allie, pulling her knife free and letting the body fall to the side. “Okay?”
Allie nodded. Let’s get snacking... She sang it fiercely in her head. Don’t freeze again, goddamn it.
Two adults with no bites stepped up to help get the children gathered and moved. One sniper stayed on the roof—Allie could see the flashlight sweeping the external and internal perimeters. A scream sounded from the other side of the building, high and pained, before it cut off.
A man stumbled past where Dette and a teenage boy were checking a weeping woman, and Allie caught him. His eyes were normal, and she checked his arms, legs, and torso as quickly as she could. “Are more people coming out?” she asked.
He shook his head, wet eyes wide and unfocused.
Tharn. Her stomach twisted.
The man staggered away.
But Key is in there. Key and Sekhmet.
Allie began checking the next person out the door, a man carrying a ponytailed girl with tearstained cheeks.
Please, please, let Them be enough to keep Cam and the others safe.